Chris Dodd

I cannot write about Chris Dodd without bias. He is a friend. I like him, admire him, respect him. Of course we have to stick together because we are both geezer dads. On Sept. 10, 2001, I called Chris from the delivery room to tell him my son, Henry, had been born. Three days later, he returned the favor following the birth of Grace. I have heard him say that people ask him how he is able to get down and play with his children. And I have heard him answer, "Getting down is easy; it's getting up that's hard.

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, ckeating@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, March 28, 2014

Former fashion executive Jack Orchulli, who lost in two statewide races in 2004 and 2010, is dropping out of the race for state treasurer. A Darien Republican, Orchulli had been battling for delegates against two Republicans — Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst and longtime investment executive C. Robert Eick of Ridgefield. "I decided to drop out of this race," Orchulli told The Courant. "The fundraising just was not happening. I didn't see a reason to continue on with it. " Orchulli is probably best known in the Connecticut political world as the Fairfield County millionaire who funded his own race against U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd in 2004 when Dodd was near the top of his popularity.

With apologies to Norma Desmond, we paraphrase that character's great line, among many, in the superb 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard" to help explain the context in which former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut takes his new job as chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America. In short, he'll be Hollywood's top representative wherever its interests are at issue and at a time when it needs to expand its clout and presence. Mr. Dodd was formally named Tuesday after weeks of rumor.

Jeff Pugliese, Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and Middletown, November 25, 2013

Darlene Briggs, chairperson of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, announced that former United States Senator Christopher J. Dodd will speak to the Chamber at a Member Breakfast Meeting on Monday, Nov. 25. Senator Dodd is now the chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., serving as the voice and advocate of the U.S. motion picture, home video, and television industries around the world. This Member Breakfast Meeting, sponsored by The Mohegan Tribe, will be held at the Crowne Plaza Cromwell, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, with networking beginning at 7 a.m., breakfast buffet opens at 7:45 a.m., and the meeting program, 8 to 9 a.m.

When it comes to the U. S. Senate, my views could not be more at odds with those of Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who is retiring at the end of the year. I've reached the point where I'd abolish the Senate if I could. It is more profoundly undemocratic than it was when the Founders created it and less genuinely deliberative — problems compounded by a Republican minority's strategy of delay and obstruction. Dodd, on the other hand, reveres the institution. He recently earned a scolding on progressive blogs by defending some of its odd habits and criticizing efforts to reform the filibuster.

For the last 35 years, first as a member of the House of Representatives and, for the last three decades, as your senator, I have had the distinct honor and privilege of serving the people of Connecticut. But, as I announced Wednesday, I've decided not to run again this November. Elections are, of course, critical opportunities for voters to evaluate their leaders and hold them accountable. But they can also serve as opportunities for elected officials to take stock. And as I used the rare quiet moments afforded by the holiday season to be with my family and think about the past year and the year ahead, I came to realize that this was a natural moment for me to step aside.

They were both outgoing Irish-American politicians from big families with powerful fathers. They served together in the U.S. Senate for nearly three decades and last year, when a gravely ill Ted Kennedy could no longer lead the health care battle, he turned to Chris Dodd. On Monday night, Kennedy's widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, was in Hartford to thank her husband's longtime colleague and close friend. "Chris Dodd has always been unafraid to dream the big dreams and unconcerned with the slings and arrows that come his way in the process," Kennedy told more than 1,300 Democrats at the party's annual Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner at the Connecticut Convention Center.

Connecticut — indeed, the nation — will miss Christopher J. Dodd after he leaves the U.S. Senate in January. Mr. Dodd gave his formal farewell speech to a full chamber Tuesday during the lame duck session, creating one of the few moments of comity the bitterly divided upper chamber of Congress has known in some time. It has not been an easy last couple of years for the senator, with his uncharacteristically awkward refusal to make public in a timely manner his records concerning questioned property purchases, and with growing opposition at home.

It all started with the bad haircut. Right after moving his family to Iowa during his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination two years ago, Chris Dodd went and got himself a first-class Des Moines Chamber of Commerce ears-lowering. Gone was the trademark flowing white mane, replaced by one of those 'dos that ought to come with a hat. Dodd shouldn't even have been in Iowa in February, of course. Actually, no one should be in Iowa in February. But for a politician who was even running behind the margin of error in the polls, it was a misstep.

Fed up with this weather? Live vicariously through radio and TV personality Diane Smith's makeup bag or WDRC-WVIT, Channel 30, personality Mary Jones and their respective journeys south. Smith's red Longchamps makeup bag went south for a few days with former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. He was featured earlier this month in a program at the Old State House in Hartford sponsored by the Connecticut Network (CT-N). Seems Smith, always thinking ahead, brought a bagful of foundation in case Dodd needed a little touch-up for the cameras.

Believe it or not, the book title "The Senator From Central Casting: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Thomas J. Dodd" (New American Political Press $29.95) was chosen by Plainville author David E. Koskoff long before the main character's son, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, was named chief of the Motion Picture Association of America. Intrigued by Tom Dodd's political rise and fall, which included financial improprieties and a 1967 censure by the Senate, Koskoff spent just under two years crafting the controversial biography about Connecticut's "other Dodd.

It was with a great sense of relief that I read the good news about former Sen. Chris Dodd on Page 1 of the March 2 Courant ["Dodd Gets Reel Job"]. It's also a huge relief knowing that he won't be lobbying Washington for a whole two years. Who knows what Washington would be doing to us if he broke that commitment? After all, someone who's been elected to five terms should not face the indignity of standing in an unemployment line. It would have been even worse if he had to collect Social Security (which hasn't had a cost-of-living adjustment in an unprecedented three years)

With apologies to Norma Desmond, we paraphrase that character's great line, among many, in the superb 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard" to help explain the context in which former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut takes his new job as chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America. In short, he'll be Hollywood's top representative wherever its interests are at issue and at a time when it needs to expand its clout and presence. Mr. Dodd was formally named Tuesday after weeks of rumor.

Fed up with this weather? Live vicariously through radio and TV personality Diane Smith's makeup bag or WDRC-WVIT, Channel 30, personality Mary Jones and their respective journeys south. Smith's red Longchamps makeup bag went south for a few days with former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. He was featured earlier this month in a program at the Old State House in Hartford sponsored by the Connecticut Network (CT-N). Seems Smith, always thinking ahead, brought a bagful of foundation in case Dodd needed a little touch-up for the cameras.

By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, January 27, 2011

Freshman U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has secured seats on several key committees, including Armed Services and Judiciary. In announcing his new assignments, Blumenthal said serving on Armed Services will help him advocate for the state's defense industries and the naval submarine base in Groton. The state's senior senator, Joseph Lieberman, also sits on the Armed Services committee. The Judiciary Committee handles judicial nominations, and intellectual property and criminal law, and oversees the U.S. Department of Justice.

Larry Well, Regina, there's a new boy in school and he ain't no Dan. Now that Dan Malloy has been elected governor and he has his ring that must be kissed by any lobbyist who needs a favor, he's no longer a Man of the People. His momma named him Dannel P. and, by God, that's what he wants to be called. Scanning the news coverage of late, most folks seem comfortable with Dannel, or King Dannel, except for some of the Republicans, who prefer Tax & Spend Dan. Of course, Dan's not the only Connecticut governor with neurosis about his name.

Five-term U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has some thinking to do. Poll numbers are dropping and potential Republican opponents are circling like sharks in the water, sensing an opportunity to end the political career of Connecticut's tarnished Democratic icon. Mr. Dodd must decide whether to plow forward with a re-election campaign next year, one that looks increasingly problematic, or leave the Senate on his own terms. It cannot be an easy decision. After negative Quinnipiac University survey results were released this week, state Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo pooh-poohed the numbers and said they come too early to matter.

He lifts a gavel in the massive room. Three men face him from a witness table, a trio of U.S. officials - the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of the Treasury - whose words move the financial markets of the world. And they wait for the man from Connecticut to lower his gavel and say something. Clothed in words and marble, aides and institution, this is the senator's native land, where he sits in easy authority, as he has his whole life.

By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, December 5, 2010

Seated before a bank of cameras in the clubby, wood-paneled confines of a Senate hearing room one morning last week, Christopher J. Dodd looked completely at home. The silver-haired senator was poised to take the gavel for the final time as chairman of the powerful Banking Committee, and he savored the moment. In his opening remarks, Dodd recalled a conversation he had with the man who preceded him at the helm, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., during a particularly raucous hearing in 2006.

Connecticut — indeed, the nation — will miss Christopher J. Dodd after he leaves the U.S. Senate in January. Mr. Dodd gave his formal farewell speech to a full chamber Tuesday during the lame duck session, creating one of the few moments of comity the bitterly divided upper chamber of Congress has known in some time. It has not been an easy last couple of years for the senator, with his uncharacteristically awkward refusal to make public in a timely manner his records concerning questioned property purchases, and with growing opposition at home.